LA's cannabis community is committed to wildfire relief
Growing up in the Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Emmett Reiner and Jackson Wootton knew they wanted to innovate. They had an almost daily appointment at their favorite taco truck where they talked about the future and how they would grow their budding cannabis company, UAVA Labs, after graduating from Colorado University Boulder this spring.
They had officially launched their vape pen device just weeks earlier on January 10th and were enjoying some sun on the beach last week before heading back to the snowy Colorado winter. Then they saw the smoke.
“We just thought, 'Oh, there's another forest fire in California,'” Reiner says. But that wasn't it. “I turn around and there was just smoke everywhere. We're on the beach and I hear this plane crashing right in front of us. I used to volunteer for the fire department. I thought, 'Oh, that's not good, Jackson.'”
Reiner was an Eagle Scout and a volunteer firefighter with the LAFD. He called his father, drove home and packed his overnight bag; Jackson did the same. They didn't pack much, assuming they would be able to return home the next day; Californians are no strangers to wildfires. They never expected that they would never return.
They never expected that they would never return.
After their parents and grandparents evacuated, Wootton and Reiner stayed with a friend who lived in a safe zone. That first night they slept fitfully; Reiner was covered in soot. The next morning they woke up in a panic – hundreds of units of their pens were still at Wootton.
“We don’t have the money to replace it. “We are students,” says Reiner. “Our last three years will be wasted if we don’t get back in there.”
They got into the car and plunged back into the fray. They claimed they were with the media to circumvent the police blockade. Palisades High, Reiner's school, was gone; the village center had disappeared; Car wheels had melted into the ground. Fortunately, the Uava batteries remained intact. They threw her in the car and drove out of harm's way.
“Just driving around was like the end of the world. It was like a war zone.”
Jackson Wootton
At the time of writing, the two largest wildfires, Palisades and Eaton, have collectively burned nearly 38,000 acres – that's more than two Manhattans or over 28,000 football fields. Thousands have lost their homes, are unable to return to work, or have been evacuated from their communities and ways of life. The fires are far from fully contained and many of the more than 150,000 displaced residents have no home to return to. In times like these, communities come together, and no one knows that better than cannabis people.
America's cannabis capital is stepping up to help
Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the country, but also the unofficial cannabis capital of California, with over 1,400 licensed dispensaries, growers, processors and ancillary businesses. Many have already stepped in to help their neighbors, customers and employees with PPE, clothing, food, water and cash.
Shop highly rated pharmacies near you
We show you pharmacies near Marstons Mills, MA
View all pharmacies
This request often comes from cannabis operators who have been victims of previous wildfires. As soon as George Sadler heard about the fires in Los Angeles, he jumped into action from his home in San Diego. Sadler knew what was at stake – in 2012, he lost everything in the devastating Potrero fire. His house, his crops, his sense of security.
“I lost everything I owned. So I know what the whole thing is like,” he says. “You think it’s just a fire. We're at the end of what's going on, but that's just the flames. That’s not what this leaves behind.”
Over the last week, Sadler, who founded his cannabis company Gelato Canna Co in 2022, has been distributing shipments and cases of his water brand Gelato to affected neighborhoods. He estimates he has sent over 120,000 doses to donation sites, first responders and animal shelters.
Water is essential to human survival, as is cash. Embarc Pharmacy launched a Gofundme with a starting pledge of $16,000. In five days, they're just a few thousand dollars away from reaching their goal of $60,000.
The Artist Tree, which operates four dispensaries in the Los Angeles area, has launched a donation match website with a $25,000 pledge to the California Community Foundation's Wildfire Recovery Fund, which will work directly with the most vulnerable communities across Los Angeles Angeles works together. They also accept donations for their local YMCA location in Koreatown. They are also hosting a Wildfire Relief Mixer at their West Hollywood location on January 31st in collaboration with The Play LA.
Lauren Fontein, one of the co-founders of The Artist Tree, knows how important help can be for communities struggling to run a cannabis business, even in the best of times.
“Insurance [premiums are] will be big. As a cannabis company, we generally already have to pay very high insurance premiums. Prices go up every year anyway, but I can only imagine what will happen after these fires. People were already dealing with a lot of other problems.”
Fires not only destabilize people's health, homes and jobs, but also their sense of culture. Los Angeles-born rapper B-Real speaks daily about the fires and the resources for those affected on his podcast BREALTV. His pharmacy chain, Dr. Greenthumb's, accepts and distributes donations at their West LA location. Kim Barker, CMO of Dr. Greenthumb, says they have helped their own employees apply for FEMA and have made several trips to COSTCO for supplies.
“If you walk with just the clothes on your back, you know, oh, wow, six new pairs of socks. One thing I don’t have to think about,” she says. “We want to have relationships with the businesses around us, and we want to have relationships with the people. Because we want to be that good neighbor.”
Verified resource to donate to
Unfortunately, not everyone wants to be a good neighbor. Not every fundraiser has good intentions. The following list of resources comes directly from organizations and has been verified. We will update this document with additional information as necessary.
resources
Fire and Storm Resource Table from Mutual Aid LA
Red Cross emergency shelters
Housing and tenant information
Transitional housing assistance through FEMA
Find a FEMA disaster recovery shelter
Care camps for youth recreation:
Virtual medical Teladoc that
California Department of Insurance wildfire resources
Free childcare, WiFi and showers at YMCA locations
Funds and loans
Apply for a SAVE card from the California Fire Foundation ($250)
Disaster loans for personal, business and economic losses
FEMA application and assistance with your application
Recreation Centers in LA County
Grants from the Ministry of Social Services
Where can you donate?
Direct relief
Gofundmes LA donation center
Embarcs United Cannabis Community Gofundme
LA Regional Food Bank
The Artist Tree Wildfire Fund
California Community Foundation Wildfire Fund
National voluntary organizations active in the event of a disaster
Pantries in Los Angeles
Vouchers
Hotel vouchers through LA 211, Hilton and American Express
San Diego Hotel Deals
Uber users can use the code WILDFIRE25 to receive a $40 credit towards a Los Angeles County animal shelter.
Airbnb temporary accommodation
Cannabis help and resources
Cannabis Control Division Disaster Relief
California State of Emergency Tax Relief
You can use the comments to add additional help links below.
Post a comment: